Egyptian Journalist: We Should Teach Hamas a Lesson

Egypt should learn from Israel and “teach Hamas a lesson” until they learn to "respect the Egyptian shoe," says local journalist.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 1/23/2014, 6:16 AM

Egypt should take a page from Israel’s book and “teach Hamas a lesson,” an Egyptian journalist recently said.

The comments by journalist Muhammad Hassan Al-Alfi were made in a January 9 interview on Faraeen TV. The comments were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Al-Alfi said in the interview that Egypt “should discipline [Hamas] just as Israel did... We must strike them so they learn to respect the Egyptian shoe."

"Only then will they kiss that shoe and learn what Egypt is worth," he declared.

“Our sons were killed and our economy was ruined in wars fought for their sake. We fought for their sake, and now, they are fighting against us, kidnapping our sons [in Sinai] and killing them,” said Al-Alfi.

“The terrorist camps in Gaza must be attacked,” he continued. “The Al-Qassam Brigades, which train them and send them over here, must be attacked. We should discipline them just as Israel did. We should not just retaliate. When you are weak, you get hit. We must strike them so they learn to respect the Egyptian shoe.”

Unlike the previous Egyptian government led by Hamas’s parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood, the current army-led government has been cracking down on Hamas, shutting down its tunnels which lead from the Sinai into Gaza. Hamas uses these tunnels to transfer goods, weapons and even terrorists.

The crackdown on Hamas is part of an Egyptian operation against the many terrorist cells in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has blamed Hamas of being involved in teaching Islamists in Egypt how to carry out attacks. Hamas has denied the allegations.

The interim government in Cairo recently declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization and renewed its wide-ranging crackdown on Brotherhood members and supporters. Sources in Egypt indicated last week that now that the Egyptian military has taken care of the Brotherhood, its offshoot Hamas was next.